Note: This distinction is mainly for American English. British English almost always uses "further."
Most writers used the words further and farther interchangeably. If you do this, I implore you to stop immediately. Somewhere, the spelling freaks of the universe are crying out in pain every time someone uses one of these words incorrectly. I'm not even a spelling freak, and it causes me pain.
Here is the lowdown:
Farther refers to physical distances and nothing else. Examples:
As they went farther down the road, she couldn't help but notice that the car started to make funny noises.
Seattle is farther from New York than it is from Los Angeles.
The spider crawled farther up his leg.
Further is used for pretty much everything else. Examples:
As our relationship moves further along, you need to be aware that I have serious trust issues.
I'm further along in my studies than he is.
Let's further this discussion at a better time, shall we?
Easy enough, right?
If you have any questions about anything in this book, please let me know how I can improve my explanations! Also, if you see any typos, I'm begging you to tell me. Not telling someone about an error in their writing is like not telling them that their fly is open, right? Well, if they're a writer. Otherwise, they don't care. But we'll all writers here, right?
YOU ARE READING
Things Every Writer Should Know (but Most Don't)
Non-FictionYou have a wonderful idea for a story, and that is fantastic! But how can you make sure that poor mechanics don't distract your writers from your message? I address some of the most common errors in writing and tell you how to fix them.
